• 2-minute read
• 21st May 2020

Spelling Tips: Chest of Drawers or Chester Drawers?

We all need somewhere to keep our socks. But should it be a chest of drawers or a chester drawers? Spoiler: the correct term here is always ‘chest of drawers’. But let’s take a look at what this term means and how to use it so you can be sure to avoid mistakes in your writing.

What Is A Chest of Drawers?

A chest of drawers is a piece of furniture, typically used to store clothing:

Mother found a lovely chest of drawers at the antiques market.

I keep my files in a box on top of my chest of drawers.

In most cases, a chest of drawers will feature several horizontal drawers stacked one above another. This is sometimes also called a drawers table or bureau, especially in American English.

The Error: Chester Drawers

The term ‘chest of drawers’ is often mistakenly written as ‘Chester drawers’ or ‘chester drawers’. For instance:

Mother found a lovely set of Chester drawers at the antiques market.

I keep my files in a box on top of my chester drawers.

This may result from mishearing ‘chest of’ as ‘chester’, or perhaps people think that Chester is the name of a brand, person, manufacturer, or the place where the furniture item originated (e.g. Chester in England).

Regardless of the origin, though, ‘chester drawers’ is always an error. So, unless you’ve named a character in a story ‘Chester Drawers’, you should avoid using this term and use ‘chest of drawers’ instead.

Summary: Chest of Drawers or Chester Drawers?

A ‘chest of drawers’ is an item of furniture used for storage. You may see the same furniture described as a ‘drawers table’ or a ‘bureau’.

However, ‘chester drawers’ is always an error and should be corrected. To avoid potentially embarrassing typos like this, though, you can always hire one of our professional proofreaders, who will check your documents to make sure your grammar, spelling, and punctuation is perfect.